Interference localization and characterization are useful techniques for optimizing performance of a communications system. Identifying the levels of interference in various areas can help a telecommunications system to adapt parameters to avoid that interference. Similarly, localizing an interference source can be useful to a network for optimizing performance, as well as to operators for identifying s signal source.
Interference localization and characterization can be challenging in real world environments. Simple triangulation techniques do not account for variations in geography and urban density, and measurement error is relatively high. Error of a few degrees can translate into hundreds of meters across the coverage area of a macrocell. While User Equipment (UE) can function as interference detection beacons, the sporadic distribution and limited number of UE that are available for interference measurement purposes are typically insufficient to establish a high resolution map of interference distribution using conventional techniques. Interference localization and characterization technology can benefit from a mechanism that uses a limited amount of data in an uncontrolled environment to localize a source of interference and characterize interference levels over a geographic area.